Yorkshire beach named one of the best in the world

Grace Newton

Melbourne, Bora Bora, Hawaii - and Robin Hood's Bay?

The Yorkshire seaside spot has joined some of the most exotic destinations in the world on a travel magazine's list of the world's best beaches.

The bay, near Whitby, is one of just 25 top beaches selected by online magazine Passport - alongside resorts in the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Australia.

The site's contributors wrote:

“There’s no evidence to indicate that Robin Hood ever visited Robin Hood’s Bay. In fact, no one seems to know where this lovely Yorkshire village and surrounding beach got their name.

“No matter, though, it’s still as pretty a day trip (or weekend sojourn) as you could hope to take.

“Walk down the narrow lanes of this fishing village-cum-tourist destination, as they lead straight from the village to the rocky coastline. Jagged cliffs surround the curve of beach, the evocative village towers above it, and the North Sea stretches endlessly into the distance.

“Part of the Heritage Coast of the North York Moors National Park , the beach at Robin Hood’s Bay is one of several village beaches that are connected at low tide, so that you can walk all the way along the beach to villages such as Ravenscar.

“With its chilly waters and often-cloudy skies, this is not a beach for swimming and tanning. Rather, it’s a photographer’s and scenery-gulper’s delight: the centuries-old houses and byways of the village rising behind, the craggy coast filled with Jurassic fossils and roiling gray waters, the beachcombing and strolling.

“Walking on the beach here is like stepping into the history and pre-history books, or, more appropriately, the ancient legends combined with some modern-day pirate stories from this isolated smuggler’s cove.

Other beaches to be included are in locations such as Auckland, Panama, Cape Town, Cuba, Ibiza, Tahiti, Greece, San Diego and Massachusetts. A second British spot, Barafundle Bay in the Welsh county of Pembrokeshire, is also featured.